Category Archives: Film

Having not gone to the cinema in a while I decided to choose Equalizer II. I wasn’t disappointed, it was a good movie, I wouldn’t call it a great movie know. Again we are back with Mr McCall, brooding, angry, but with a smile. The same gags seem to have continued from the first film, however I felt the ebb and flow of the first film made that a really good film. I like the way the characters developed in the first film, there was also a mystery about the main character.

We start off on a train to Istanbul, a little interchange about a story of kidnap, then straight into the action. Then it’s straight back to America with half the audience none the wiser of what just happened!

At times there are good interchanges between Denzel Washington characters approach to situations and people. At bad times, the film seems to ponder too much at points which leave you a feeling of boredom.

And the main story? Well, I didn’t quite understand why his past army buddies were killing off old friends. There seemed to be this massive plot hole which leaves you thinking.. “What the fuck just happened to get here?”

The lack of back story in this movie doesn’t help at all, the first film in the series didn’t matter so much as that left you with a void of wanting to know more. Now we are at a situation where Antonie Fuqua who did such a good job with the first film has let the audience down with a lack of explanation to what just happened.

There was nothing wrong with the action and the final part of the movie was excellently filmed in the sweeping stormy weather. It’s worth a watch if you have seen the first film, however I am only going to give this a score of 2.5 out of 5 due to the massive plot holes!

I finally got round to watch the film Gravity with Sandra Bullock because I thought it was suppose to be good as it had loads of awards. I personally thought it was terrible! It was like the Blair Witch Project in space, it didn’t port well on TV for me. And nothing really happened than bad luck for the main character! The mix of music didn’t help, if they had chosen better, it could of been more impacting. Nobody to greet her when she finally arrived on Earth.

I was so bored by it, don’t know how many people really like this or not! I’ve done this before, the critics liked the film Black Swan and I thought that was horrible too. I am trusting the critics less and less now.

Next to the first Iron Man film I would have to say this is one of the best Marvel films I have watched. Seeing a perfectionist fall from grace and rise up again is nothing new to film entertainment. But the style and grace in which Scott Derrickson brought this comic book character to the big screen felt right. Benedict Cumberbatch was an excellent choice for the role, his on-screen chemistry, short sharp canny jokes, the way he holds himself, tall with regal strength. These are the qualities which the Doctor Strange character is known for.

There is obviously a greater picture about Marvel’s version of Earth than we know of, this film represents a multiverse theorem, changing the dynamic yet again.

Stephen Strange a brilliant doctor, although helping people he seems to have an arrogance about himself. Set in his ways up until a car crash that destroys his hands that made him such a brilliant physician. This then sets him on a journey to search for a cure to repair his hands, this in turn leads him to the Ancient One and a new way of life.

I am not to sure about the makeup of Ancient One, Tilda Swinton who played her didn’t quite look right. I also considered her to be the weakest actor, she didn’t project that well on screen.

After what seems like a quick study session, Strange is tested when the Ancient One dumps him on Everest and told him he has to make his own way back. It wasn’t long afterwards till the bad guys come back and rain havoc.

If I told you anymore I would be giving the whole film away. This film is visually stunning, however it does seem to borrow elements from Inception and The Matrix which does take a little bit of the originality away. The music score by Michael Giacchino was another element that brought the film to life, I could easily add the soundtrack to my CD collection as I thought it was that good.

You are also treated to the best after the credits Easter-egg ever in my opinion when what you thought was a good guy turning bad. I am looking forward to the second film now.

If you haven’t seen it, this is a video released on YouTube in 2013 which is a 10 minute short. I was very impressed with the feel of the film the way you have an external view of a super hero. There is a cold unknown, leaving you with questions. A very old-school approach to movie making. And now we have Sony who are going to develope this into a full length feature in 2017. Enjoy.

Very often trailers give away too much information and this is another case. In fact I would have to say that the trailer for Suicide Squad gave away some of the best jokes in the film. It overcooked a film before I even saw the dam thing. So this is why I probably feel a little let down.

After Superman vs Batman you expect darker elements, the gothic, the twisted and the dam right crazy. But by today standards this feels tame in many regards.

After the introduction of each character and hearing a bit about their backstory the film throws you in head first into an urban battle with what looks like more undead! The camera does like Margot Robbie aka Harley Quinn. Is it me or do they keep focusing on her ass. And a very nice one at that.

As for the all the other characters they just seem to fade in and out, leaving only Will Smith playing Deadshot who holds the film and the crew together. The only time you get down to a human level is when they are all in a bar for a break. Was it needed? They didn’t seem to work that hard for it!

So the bad guys are the good guys, the good guys are the evil guys and the really evil guys, well… They seem to have about 10 to 15 minutes of screen time and then they are killed off. I enjoyed parts but felt that they could of done a lot better job with the material they had. The script writers should be put in the facility where the crooks came out of.

Visually the film was impressive, I enjoyed each music track they implemented and they were well placed. I have to give credit to the makeup and costume department these people know what they are doing. Just a shame the direction of the film couldn’t have been better. Jared Leto was a good fit for the Joker, I might of preferred a film base around him. However for what we have I will give the film 2.5 out of 5

Another character comes out of the Marvel Universe and this time they call him Deadpool. A twisted child-like character bent, corrupted, twisted by another. Sometimes trailers say far too much and it could be the case for the Deadpool trailer which I watched last year. The movie was very well put together, but seemed to be missing parts too it. Even the character turns to the cinema goers to tell his story which if you read any of the comics you would know he is also his own monolog.

The film starts with what you saw in the trailer but expanded, I am not sure it flowed that well for photography, as you seemed to jump from one camera angle to another.

Then you get his back story via a retelling. A hunter-hitman, ex-army guy falls for a girl who is very much a matching personality. Then after he finds out that he is riddled with cancer another guy comes along to offer a cure to save him. Wolverines healing gene or is it the X-Gene, o wait, its X-Men again.

So a brutal treatment regime takes place and thus we have our new super-hero or anti-hero. This film to me feels like a mash up of 300, Kick-Ass in the Marvel outfit.

I did laugh at much of the comedy, although offensive I didn’t really mind as I have seen much worse on the silver screen these days.

In comes the action, slashing, shooting, dead guys, a bullet to the head. Some very corny lines from Colossus and roll credits.

That felt like a quick movie, I didn’t look at my watch once so I must have enjoyed it. Not as much as Iron Man or Guardians of the Galaxy, but not that far behind.

For me I was worried I might fall asleep since I went to see the 12:40 am screening. However with the 3D glasses on and the scroll down of the famous flowing narrative. Which kinda of made me laugh because already I felt this copied straight up from the previous scripts.

I felt like I was back on Tattooine of Luke’s home planet, but this is a different planet, which looks exactly the same! Apart from the fact there appears to have been a war here. Hence the fact that there is an Imperial graveyard littered after every dune.

You are met with a runaway, a girl and a droid. A few other characters and suddenly a hunt for a map. Well, this feels different and it did for a good while. But as back stories go, you will know the old characters, but the new ones? Is this mystery or a failure to give little back story?

As soon as we find Han Solo’s favourite ship which he had been hunting for himself, there seemed to be a return to the old ways.

There seems to be a collective point in the script which reverts back to what Lucas started with and how the film ended. Starting with a chase through space to a big super weapon, an even bigger death-star! O, how original.

I can’t say too much more about the script or story as that would be just unfair.

I appreciate you have a time limit for such films as you can only fit so much into a story, so they have done well with what was given. The ability to provide an authentic looking film to the series and they have done an excellent job here. The used look is back, the battered, beaten, damaged. This is the look about Star Wars which I loved the original for, a used up, battered universe.

I couldn’t really feel much for the characters and this maybe due to some flat acting at times. I did like the new droid, the young actors fitted in well. I didn’t really feel the anger from the Darkside! When he took his mask off, I just saw a pathetic looking man with shaggy hair. Poor choice of actor in my opinion.

Although JJ has done an excellent job with the script he was given, I did love what was on offer. However It feels lacking and I just hope the next instalment will be a better look, with more style and some class. And for heaven-sake, I hope some originality!